First responders, and particularly law enforcement officers (LEDs), face challenges in acquiring and maintaining situational awareness. (For convenience, a LEO may also be referred to as a police officer or the like.) Generally, the concept of situational awareness relates to being aware of one's surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangerous situations. This is particularly important and challenging for law enforcement officers who must be acutely focused on, and engaged in, a task directly before the officer such as subduing an attacker, questioning a suspect, or collecting evidence. In these moments, additional threats can appear from elsewhere in the environment where the officer is not presently focused. These threats could include attackers, dangerous traffic environments, or the presence of weapons.
Frequently, officers are vulnerable at night when an officer's perspective may be impaired by lighting conditions. These challenging lighting conditions can include diminished visual acuity in low light or the contrasts of low ambient light combined with bright artificial lighting (e.g. headlights or streetlights). An officer's situational awareness of the surrounding environment can also be impaired by obstacles such as vehicles, buildings, vegetation, or terrain.
In addition to the officer's personal security, greater situational awareness is beneficial to other police tasks such as evidence collection or following and apprehending suspects. While fixed security cameras may be useful to collect evidence, they are constrained in the view they can capture, and they lack the mobility to go wherever a LEO goes. Recently, officers have begun to use body-worn-cameras (BWCs) to capture on-scene video while on patrol. BWCs are typically worn over an officer's gear at or about chest level. BWCs have typically been limited to a narrow field of view and constrained to the direction in which the officer's torso is oriented. Similarly, officers have traditionally utilized video collection from dash-mounted cameras for evidence collection. These cameras are also limited to a relatively narrow field of view and constrained to the direction (and elevation) of the patrol car.
Traditionally, some police departments have utilized helicopters to provide surveillance of a scene. Helicopters, however, have several disadvantages. First, helicopters are usually not on scene immediately. Typically, a helicopter would only be available in a limited number of circumstances, and only after being requested by an on-scene LEO. Unless the helicopter happened to be loitering very close by, it would take several minutes for a helicopter to be on scene. Furthermore, acquisition costs, fuel costs, maintenance, pilots, training, and other operational expenses make helicopters cost-prohibitive for many law enforcement agencies. A need exists for a lower-cost and more effective surveillance system.
LEOs have various means of technology at their disposal to perform their tasks. However, while technology has provided law enforcement officers powerful tools to perform their jobs, it has also added a level of complexity for officers on patrol. There are many distractions competing for an officer's attention. “Workload” refers to the tasks which an LEO must perform in a short amount of time. For example, an LEO may be driving, observing driving behavior of others, listening to a dispatch radio, talking on the radio to other LEOs, reviewing a Be on Look Out (“BOLO”) alert, and manipulating certain auxiliary vehicle controls such as a light bar or spotlight. It is desirable that additional systems not increase an LEO's workload. For that reason, it is desirable that a surveillance system operate autonomously, subject to control/override by the LEO.